”The problem,’ she said, pausing to take a sip of her vodka tonic (she’s cutting back just a bit on the scotch.. especially at these social functions.. that combination has a tendency to make her a tad too social), is that most people go through life with their their blinders on and their game plan in hand. They live their lives with a predetermined destination and rarely deviate from their prescribed path.’

Sometimes though, something exciting happens that pushes us off our training-wheels enabled bicycle. Excitement could simply be a chance decision to move to another city.. or take someone up on their offer to go to a new restaurant.. or deciding it’s time to take a class/write a blog/fall in love/skydive. Or it could be something as easy as opening your eyes to the possibility of more.

Starting Basati was a huge leap for us. We stubbed a few toes (our own…. and some others… sorry guys!) and are moving the business along in a manner similar to most relationships: some give, some take, some riding along to see where an idea (a kiss? haha couldn’t resist!) leads. But mostly we have the paddle out and we attempt to steer as we can (did you know that water is the most powerful force on earth? here I thought it was me…). Of course there are times that we use the paddle to ward off angry bears. But we constantly and consistently adapt and adjust and we are excited about the direction.

I’m excited to announce that team Basati has steered towards a new path. Bear (grr) with me and allow me to embellish tell the story.

It started with a business trip to California. We drank wine networked in Napa for two days first.. setting the mood perhaps? Then on to San Fran for an ultimate geek-fest (c’mon, you know we all have tendencies.. some just have a stronger geek pull than others): Salesforce’s annual convention – Dreamforce (DF) 2011. It was, in a word, ahhh-mayzing.

If you haven’t read my posts (wha??) or Basati’s updates (gasp!), you may be asking yourself, self, what exactly is Salesforce? Well, Salesforce.com is a software as a service (SaaS) company that distributes business software on a subscription basis. Salesforce hosts the applications offsite (in the cloud) and is best known for its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) products. Basati is an approved Salesforce consultant – simply, Salesforce sells the ‘legos’ and Basati helps our clients manipulate those legos into something that their organization can play in and with (intrigued? buzz us! www.basati.com).

This year’s Dreamforce gathering (aka Salesforce’s annual rollout/party/updates/geekfest) was all about social media. You know, those two dirty little words that’s on everyone’s lips, tweeters are twitting about, facebookers are facebooking about, and all that yadda yadda because we all know it’s something that HAVE TO-HAVE TO-HAVE TO DO, but having no real clue how… or more importantly – WHY DO IT AT ALL?

Well, the challenge is that if you are not connected to your clients, someone else will be. Or worse, if your customer has a challenge and cannot find a solution, they could reach out via the internet in frustration via blog or tweet.

Salesforce, in addition to their amazing business platform, has recently acquired and is implementing a social media monitoring platform. This combination of social media marketing, coupled with a ‘social CRM’, enables brands to see what content is generating buzz across the web, as well as what content is generating website traffic, conversions, and sales. Social media.. coupled with salesforce… gives users an at-a-glance view at which content is coming from their customers and prospects, while being able to add new contacts and leads (and set tasks for follow up!) with a single click. Boom. Talk about some powerful stuff!

Sounds pretty exciting, huh? We thought so too. Basati is psyched to announce that we are now focusing our team efforts to a concentrate on being a salesforce/force.com focused shop. In addition to our current team, we have hired a Project Manager (Jared rocks!) and another solution provider (Megan’s already kicking butt!).

We are certain that Basati’s realignment will allow us to serve our client base in a more defined way. And we are looking forward to showing our clients – and our Executive Board – the phenomenal return on investment that this platform brings.

Connect with us and let us know how we can help you succeed!

We’ll keep the paddle handy.